Scoop is pretty impressive. I'm a long time fan. Alistair Thompson is a quiet New Zealand hero. Having said that it is quite unnerving seeing you (and other Scoopies) on the masthead of The Standard and asssorted websites.

I take my cue from Welsh cultural critic/novelist Raymond Williams who became, as he argued one should, more radical (of a left persuasion) as he aged. Drifting to the centre/right is such a lazy option.

I’ve been working for Telecom. Well, alright, I’ve been working for Scoop, but that doesn’t make as neat a punch-line.

I had similar issues when I started working for Telecom Xtra. I thought I was totally selling out to the man, but once I started my new job, I realised I was in a workplace full of smart, bright, creative people who were doing cool things. And yeah, dirty old Telecom were paying me, but they weren't telling me how to spend the money.

So yeah, Telecom might be making your paid writing for Scoop possible, but that doesn't make you Telecom's bitch. As I read this post, I saw an ad with Taika Waititi shilling for Steinlager. What do you bet his cheque for the ad is going towards a future creative project?

I had similar issues when I started working for Telecom Xtra. I thought I was totally selling out to the man, but once I started my new job, I realised I was in a workplace full of smart, bright, creative people who were doing cool things. And yeah, dirty old Telecom were paying me, but they weren’t telling me how to spend the money.

I figure the ground rule for not selling out is basically “don’t work for anyone whose business model requires them to be evil” (i.e. arms dealers, tobacco companies, American mortgage brokers.) Everything else is at least potentially mitigatable.

I take my cue from Welsh cultural critic/novelist Raymond Williams who became, as he argued one should, more radical (of a left persuasion) as he aged. Drifting to the centre/right is such a lazy option.

Others to have inverted the "I was a teenage X" cliché include Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs fame - he was vaguely WhaleOil-ish when he started blogging, before he woke up and broke with his compatriots; and to a lesser degree Francis Fukuyama. Closer to home, Bernard Hickey openly declared his apostasy a couple of years ago.

Still others have kept the faith all along, like Bruce Springsteen, Brian Edwards and John Campbell.

So yeah, Telecom might be making your paid writing for Scoop possible, but that doesn’t make you Telecom’s bitch. As I read this post, I saw an ad with Taika Waititi shilling for Steinlager. What do you bet his cheque for the ad is going towards a future creative project?

I am reminded of Johnny Rotten's shilling for British butter producers. Or if your mileage varies, taking the piss out of it all.

If I were to do that, you’d all stop telling me about “that one time…” (It’s never at Band Camp. Did none of you go to Band Camp?)

I went to Band Camp. Nothing happened. Nothing whatsoever. Based on my general track record at the time, and all those other "that one time..."s that happened everywhere but at Band Camp, I am of the opinion that if nothing happened at my Band Camp, then quite possibly nothing ever happens at anyone's Band Camp. Which would be pretty disappointing really.

However, if it were true (that nothing ever happens at Band Camp), we could all just make stuff up, and say it happened at Band Camp, and it would be like secret code for "this didn't actually happen but I think it would make a good story".